The Case for Development in a Down Economy

Many of us may work in organizations where leaders are faced with making hard decisions about budget cuts. All too often, one of the first items on the chopping block are training and development. Though times may be turbulent and money tight, it’s important to continue to invest in the development and training of people.

People make things work

Think about what your organization could look like a few years from now if you haven’t invested time and money into developing people. Everything new will be learned in a bubble. You’ll fail to innovate and complacency will take over. Most people will become comfortable doing what they do and knowing what they know. It’s essentially the “drone-ization” of your workforce. The people who desire continuous learning and development leave. Now you have to replace talent. Seems to me that this works out to be more expensive than investing in that training.

Core competencies must be kept current

It’s important to keep core competencies updated and current with the industry you’re in. It will be difficult for people to advance, create and implement new ideas, or to do wonderful things for their employers like reduce costs and improve processes without the benefit of knowledge sharing. Whether that’s learning something new from peers at a conference or getting a certification, it all works out the same. If you don’t get on board, you’re probably going to lose money in lost productivity of the disengaged.

Working adults need to feel accomplishment

Now, the human side of this is equally important. It’s not always about the bottom line. People who aren’t being developed and allowed to branch out in their knowledge and skills are likely to be a very unhappy lot. People who feel stagnated or trapped in their careers aren’t going to give you 100%. Forget it.

Now, there are a lot of people who will say, “They should just pay for their own development.” I agree—there’s nothing wrong with expecting people to have a little skin in the game. However, shouldn’t the company have some too? One benefit is a golden handcuff of sorts, depending on the money spent. Another benefit is that a mutual partnership is created. Either way, the company benefits from the employee’s advancement of knowledge and skills. People who always pay in full, with no help from their company, typically feel no reason to benefit their current organization with the newly learned skills. Now, the recruiter’s back in action, billing hours, so to speak.

It’s about give and take. We get what we give. Give a little and sometimes the benefits can be greater than the gift.